Dogb. Doft thou not fufpect my place? doft thou not fufpect my years? O, that he were here to write me down an afs! but, Masters, remember that I am an afs; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. No, thou villian, thou art full of piety, as shall be prov'd upon thee by good witness, "I am a wife fellow, and which is more, an officer; "and which is more, an houfholder; and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Meffina, " and one that knows the law; go to, and a rich fel"low enough; go to, and a fellow that hath had loffes; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him. Bring him away; O

"that I had been writ down an afs!

Exeunt.

Ant. IF you go on thus, you will kill yourfelf;
And 'tis not wisdom thus to fecond grief

Against yourself.

Leon. I pray thee, ceafe thy counfel, Which falls into mine ear as profitless

As water in a fieve; give not me counsel,

Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But fuch a one whofe wrongs do fuit with mine.
Bring me a father, that fo lov'd his child,
Whofe joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it anfwer every strain for strain:
As thus for thus, and fuch a grief for fuch,
In every lineament, branch, shape, and form.
If fuch a one will fmile, and ftroke his beard,
And forrow waive; cry, Hem! when he fhould
'Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wafters; bring him yet to me,

And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no fuch man; for, brother, men

grone;

; Can

Can counfel, and give comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but tafting it,
Their counfel turns to paffion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage;
Fetter ftrong madnefs in a filken thread;

• Charm ach with air, and agony with words.
No, no; 'tis all mens' office to speak patience
To thofe that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue, nor fufficiency,

To be fo moral, when he shall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counfel;
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.'

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ.
Leon. I pray thee, peace; I will be flesh and blood;
For there was never yet philofopher,

• That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the ftyle of gods,
And made a pifh at chance and fufferance.'
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourfelf:
Make those that do offend you, fuffer too.

Leon. There thou fpeak'ft reafon; nay, I will do fo. My foul doth tell me, Hero is bely'd;

And that shall Claudio know, fo fhall the Prince;
And all of them that thus difhonour her.

SCENE II. Enter Don Pedro and Claudio.

Ant. Here comes the Prince and Claudio haftily. Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my Lords.

Pedro. We have fome halte, Leonato.

Leon. Some hafte, my Lord! well, fare you well,

Are

my Lord.

you fo halty now? well, all is one.

Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. Ant. If he could right hinfelf with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low.

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leon. Marry, thou doft wrong me, thou diffembler,

thou!

2

Nay,

Nay, never lay, thy hand upon thy fword,
I fear thee not.

Claud. Marry, befhrew my hand,

If it should give your age fuch cause of fear;
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.
Leon. Tufh, tufh, man, never fleer and jeft at me.
I fpeak not like a dotard, nor a fool;

As, under privilege of age, to brag

What I have done being young, or what would do,
Were I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head,
Thou haft fo wrong'd my innocent child and me,
That I am force'd to lay my reverence by ;
And, with grey hairs, and bruise of many days,
Do challenge thee to trial of a man:

I fay, thou haft bely'd mine innocent child,
Thy flander hath gone through and through her heart,
And the lies bury'd with her ancestors,

O, in a tomb where never scandal flept,
Save this of her's, fram'd by thy villany!
Claud. My villany?

Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine, I say.
Pedro. You fay not right, old man.
Leon. My Lord, my Lord,

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare;

Defpight his nice fence and his active practice,
His May of youth, and bloom of luftyhood.
Claud. Away, I will not have to do with you.
Leon. Can't thou fo doffe me? thou haft kill'd my
child;

If thou kill'ft me, boy, thou fhalt kill a man,
Ant. He fhall kill two of us, and men, indeed;
But that's no matter, let him kill one first ;
Win me and wear me, let him answer me;
Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me;
Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence ;
Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.

Leon. Brother,

Ant. Content yourfelf; God knows, I lov'd my

niece;

And the is dead, flander'd to death by villains,

That dare as well answer a man, indeed,

As I dare take a ferpent by the tongue.
H

VOL. II.

Boys,

Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milkfops!

Leon. Brother Anthony

Ant. "Hold you content; what, man? I know them, << yea,

"And what they weigh, even to the utmoft fcruple: "Scambling, out-facing, fafhion-mongring boys, "That lye, and cog, and flout, deprave, and flander, "Go anticly, and show an outward hideousness, "And fpeak off half a dozen dangerous words, "How they might hurt their enemies, if they durft; "And this is all."

Leon. But, brother Anthony,

Ant. Come, 'tis no matter;

Do not you meddle, let me deal in this.

Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wrack your patience.

My heart is forry for your daughter's death;
But, on my honour, fhe was charge'd with nothing
But what was true, and very full of proof.

Leon. My Lord, my Lord-
Pedro. I will not hear you.

Leon No! come, brother, away, I will be heard.
Ant. And fhall, or fome of us will smart for it.
[Exeunt ambe

SCENE III. Enter Benedick.

Pedro. See, fee, here comes the man we went to Leek.

Claud. Now, Signior, what news?

Bene. Good day, my Lord.

Pedro. Welcome, Signior; you are almost come to part almost a fray

Claud. We had like to have had our two nofes fnapt off with two old men without teeth.

Pedro. Leonato and his brother; what think'ft thou? had we fought, I doubt we fhould have been too young for them.

Bene. In a falfe quarrel there is no true valour: I came to feek you both.

Claud. We have been up and down to feek thee; for we are high-proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use thy wit?

Bene.

Bene. It is in my fcabbard; fhall I draw it? Pedro. Doft thou wear thy wit by thy fide? Claud. Never any did fo, though very many have been befide their wit. I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleafure us.

Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale: art thon fick or angry?

Claud. What! courage, man: what tho' care kill'd a cat, thou haft mettle enough in thee to kill care. Bene. Sir, I fhall meet your wit in the career, if you charge it against me. I pray you chuse another fubject.

Claud. Nay, then give him another staff; this laft was broke crofs.

Pedro. By this light he changes more and morė. I think he be angry indeed.

Claud. If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle. Bene. Shall I fpeak a word in your ear?

Claud. God blefs me from a challenge!

Bene. You are a villain; I jeft not. I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare. Do me right, or I will proteft your cowardice. You have kill'd a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you. Let me hear from you.

Claud. Well, I will meet you, fo I may have good cheer.

Pedro. What, a feast?

Claud. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calves-head and a capon; the which if I do not carve moft curioufly, fay, my knife's naught. Shall I not 'find a wood-cock too?

Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes eafily.

Pedro. I'll tell thee how Beatrice prais'd thy wit the other day. I said, thou hadft a fine wit; right, fays fhe, a fine little one; no, faid I, a great wit; juft, faid the, a great grofs one; nay, faid I, a good wit; just, faid fhe, it hurts no body; nay, faid I, the gentleman is wife; certain, faid fhe, a wife gentleman; nay, faid I, he hath the tongues; that I believe, faid fhe, for he fwore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forfwore on Tuesday morning; there's a double tongué, there's two tongues. Thus did fhe an hour together tranf-fhape

H 2